Cliff Jumping In The Mountains Near Taichung

It's great having a scooter. I feel like a normal person, almost. I took a trip with a group of friends to a waterfall and cliffs near Taichung. It's about 45 minutes away from downtown Taichung. There's a nice pool that you can jump into. It was also the first time I saw a rock monkey. It lost it's grip and went crashing down the cliffs and landed on a ledge above the pool. The little dude was okay, but seemed a bit shaken up. I guess they'll try to steal your stuff so I think he was moving in for the take. Just don't take the beer!

Back In Taiwan

My time in the United States was good. It was great to catch up with family and friends, but my path is crooked and winding and sometimes lonely. My life doesn't always give me what I want, but it gives me what I need. There are always moments in our life when we have decisions which can change us in ways we cannot understand. Paths that seem dangerous and uncertain. Theses are the moments when we must be true to our nature. These are the moments that can fill us with experience and sensation if we choose to take the path. I have always chosen the path less traveled. The path that looks like it will lead me to someplace that no else has seen. Of course, our lives are always inexplicably our own. This beautiful isolation and subjective aspect of living is what makes the journey so wonderful. Well, I'm back in Taiwan and living in Taichung city. I have many Taiwanese and foreign friends in Taichung city, but loneliness is stronger than anything I've known. I was quite comfortable being alone in Colorado or in Chicago, but in Taiwan I find myself feeling a deep need for being around people. Sometimes I will go out for dinner just so I can sit around other people. I may not know anyone or know what it being said around me, but there is a comfort in being around other people. I carry my loneliness and glide along in crowds of people. It's a potent yet strangely fulfilling experience. It's an experience I think everyone should feel at sometime in their life.


This is the view of Taichung from the balcony of my 20th floor apartment on Wenxin Road and Dadun 6th Street. When the haze is not too bad you can see the mountains.

This is the inside of my one room apartment. There's a small washing machine outside on the small balcony, which is a lot better than washing my clothes by hand. This apartment is in a very nice building (marble floors, two guards at the entrance, a small garden on the ground floor with tables and chairs, etc.). It costs about $260 USD a month and includes Internet (I also get 15 channels for free too, but they're all in Chinese...I never liked TV than much anyway). This is considered expensive by Taichung standards.

This is my new girlfriend. I picked her up at a shop in Longjing for about $280 USD. She fits nicely in my lap and she's got a nice deep voice. It's a Grace guitar made in Vietnam but designed by Gilet guitars of Australia. I call her Grace and I play her almost every day. She's got pickups too so I'm ready to perform at some open mics. In the words of Jimi Hendrix, "Music sweet music, I wish I could caress, caress, caress."